Monday, 28 September 2015

Nutella doughnuts in Coburg

Nutella doughnuts have arrived in the 'Burg. (You might know it better as Coburg.) Along Sydney Road, bakeries are adorned with signs that they are here. Displays boast lines of plump sugary doughnuts with little nipples of nutella that are merely the tip of the iceberg. Bite into one you will find generous veins of nutella within that oozes all over your lips. Icing sugar flies over your clothes. They are hard to eat neatly. Even harder to resist!

Actually nutella doughnuts are not that new. I discovered them a couple of months ago after reading about Melbourne's nutella craze leading to a temporary nutella shortage. Once I tried more than one I found myself on a mission to taste all Coburg's doughnuts. I never found a nutella doughnut I didn't love. (Though it is different story in the city.) I tried them at eight establishments. More than I expected to find. It is time to stop searching.

I have eaten them in the mall, on a park bench, in cafes, at home, in arcades. My black jacket has seen enough icing sugar. They are messy but oh so good. Here is my round up, starting with my favourites:

Crystal Bakery

427 Sydney Road

Crystal Bakery is a cheap high street bakery the is your place for soft white bread and cute doughnuts with sprinkles. It comes top of my list. It was here I first tasted the nutella doughnuts. It was indecently early in the morning and they were so fresh and pillowy with a generous ooze that I fell in love. I have had them from Crystal Bakery since and they are still soft and delicious though never quite as sublime (or as early in the day) as the first time. They are also ridiculously cheap at $2. They always have heaps at the start of the day but I have been there later in the day and found that they are sold out.

Candy Ink Cafe

53 Moreland Road

Another favourite is the Candy Ink doughnut. This is a quirky cafe that offers coffee and tattoos. Sylvia and I had one after lunch the other day. She got nutella all over her face and couldn't finish it. Mine was heated which just encouraged the ooze and made them amazing. Really loved these and also love their nutella doughnut artwork.

O'Heas Bakery and Deli

203-205 O'Hea Street

O'Heas is a bit fancier than other local bakeries with great sourdough breads and ciabattas. Their nutella doughnuts are among my favourites. Their doughnuts seem to have more nutella on top than most but like all doughnuts, there is an amazing amount inside. They also seem to have icing sugar on the nutella, unlike most, which made me think it might be drier but it was pleasingly oozy.

Dat Thanh Bakery

389 Sydney Road

This is a favourite bakery of E and Sylvia's. They refer to it as The Vietnamese Bakery and love the cinnamon doughnuts. It is a similar sort of place to the Crystal Bakery and their doughnuts are also soft, delicious and cheap. I managed to get a photo of the doughnut mid-ooze which is very hard when nutella doughnuts are so messy.

The Pie Place

Walkers Arcade, 471 Sydney Road

The Pie Place is a hole in the wall bakery in Walkers Arcade that, as the name suggests, specialises in pies. It is not a great photo but believe me they are one of the good nutella doughnuts. I confess that I was a bit emotional when I had this one as I discovered that my favourite hairdresser has left the salon where I have been going. [Which is significant as it has taken me about eight years to finally find a favourite hairdresser so I don't come across them often.]

Trivelli Cake Shop

369 Sydney Road

Trivelli is an old fashioned family run Italian pasticceria with a faded shop front. They offer cannoli impressive decorated cakes and gelati. These were the first doughnuts that I encountered that had crystalised sugar rather than icing sugar on the outside. I prefer the icing sugar but enjoyed the doughnuts. Tivelli gets bonus points for having the option of small or large doughnuts.

Fergusson Plarre Bakehouse

495 Sydney Road

Fergusson Plarre is a bakery franchise that is presented in the style of a traditional Aussie country bakery with pies and pasties, fun decorated biscuits, slices and other baked goods. It was dusted with crystalised sugar but it was particularly unusual in not having the nipple of nutella on top. If eaten in isolation I would say it was lovely but compared to other local offerings it was smaller and more expensive and rated low for me.

Hangar Cafe

Coburg North Village, 180 Gaffney Street

Hangar is your bog standard food hall cafe that is part of the "Coburg North Village" shopping centre around the new Coles supermarket. This was my least favourite nutella doughnut. It is just not my sort of cafe, service was a bit slower than I expected and the exterior of the doughnut was more chewy and fried than others I have tasted. As with Fergusson Plarre, eaten in isolation I would have loved it but it pales in comparison. Which just shows how spoilt we are in Coburg to have so many good nutella doughnuts that I can be so picky!

So there you have it. Coburg really has been inundated with nutella doughnuts in all sorts of establishments. Even with my love of them, I haven't been able to cover every cafe/bakery that sells them. So the next time you walk into any bakery or cafe in Coburg, look around and don't be surprised if you see a nutella doughnut tempting you!

12 comments:

Should I mention I have never had a Nutella donut? I do like the look of the one you bought where your hairdresser used to be. What a shame you have to find a new hairdresser - I've had to do that myself lately and I've had some horror experiences xx

Thanks Charlie - never had a nutella doughnuts! I can highly recommend that you find yourself one pronto! And so sad for you to hear about your hairdresser experiences - honestly I prefer sylvia to most hairdressers out there!

Cogratulations on your research! I was surprised to hear the dinner opposite us at Shu mention the nutella donut craze in Coburg. Trang Bakery had vegan 'nutella' donut but there was zero hazelnut taste for me, but they were an awesome chocolate donut regardless for $2. I wonder what the next craze will be after nutella?

Thanks Faye - I thought it might be have been your comment that started me off on this crazy project but maybe it was at that dinner! I really go for the chocolate in nutella rather than the hazelnut so I would be very happy with Trang Bakery's doughnuts. As E is currently watching a Tex Mex video I venture that it will next be margharita everything or mole :-)

Oh wow - what an amazing round up and a fun area to research! I have actually never heard of nutella doughnuts but now think the idea is brilliant. I also saw an ad for Reese's peanut butter chocolate doughnuts at Krispy Kreme which makes me think chocolate in doughnuts is only just beginning.

Thanks Kari - it was a fun project - reese's peanut butter cups doughnuts sounds interesting but I have never been such a fan of them and it would seem unfair to sylvia (who was cross enough at me doing most of my 'research' without her but at least we could go out and try one together)

Oh my goodness, you must have had so much fun doing this research! I have never had (or even heard of!) a nutella doughnut, but I want one! They all look so good. I like the signs, they give character (especially the one saying "Voted best in Melbourne by my mother" haha cute!I don't come across very many vegan-friendly doughnuts in the area, and when I do, the flavours are kind of boring. Maybe I should try to make a nutella doughnut!

Thanks Kimmy - yes, it was great having the blog to justify my research - I agree that the signs give character - it was a nice way to talk about some local bakeries that I will probably never write up in a review. We have been buying a lovely vegan version of nutella and I have wondered about trying to make nutella doughnuts - but I am not sure mine are as light and pillowy - I have wondered if this is how they get so much nutella in the doughnuts - I actually tried it once and didn't get much in - but I think that was before I bought my squeezy bottles for getting jam into doughnuts.

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Recipes and reflections in which our vegetarian heroine dreams of being tall and graceful as a giraffe; being a goddess in the kitchen; and being gladdened by green gadgets, green food and green politics because green is the colour of hope. See About Me for more info.